Posts Tagged: Poultry

People who raise poultry outdoors are encouraged to have their eggs tested for environmental contaminants.

Californians who raise poultry outdoors are invited to get their eggs tested for contaminants.

To find out if harmful substances on the ground that are eaten by birds get passed along in the eggs they lay, Maurice Pitesky, UC Cooperative Extension poultry specialist at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, is providing free egg testing.

“We're trying to understand the connection between the environment that backyard poultry are raised in and the eggs they are producing,” Pitesky said.

For more information about how to package and ship eggs, visit http://ucanr.edu/eggtest.

Pitesky's colleague veterinary toxicologist Birgit Puschner is testing eggs for different types of contaminants, depending on the county the eggs are from.

Eggs from counties recently affected by wildfires will be tested for chemicals, building materials and heavy metals that may have been carried in the smoke and ash. Pitesky and Puschner are also looking for lead and PCBs in eggs from certain regions of the state.

The UC Cooperative Extension poultry specialist will share individual egg results with each poultry owner. At the end of the study, all of the results will be summarized and made available to the general public.

Pitesky describes the project in a video produced by CropMobster for UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. Watch the video at https://youtu.be/3ZlytlUIS3I.

Residents in Sonoma County may drop off eggs at the UC Cooperative Extension office at 133 Aviation Blvd Suite 109 in Santa Rosa. The UCCE office in Sonoma County is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Prospective, beginner or intermediate farmers interested in raising poultry flocks on pasture or free-range are invited to attend poultry workshops. The lessons will apply to both egg-laying hens and broilers. UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and the Farmer Veteran Coalition have partnered to provide training for military veterans who are embarking on careers in farming, but all farmers are welcome to the workshops.

Workshops will be held in Davis, San Diego and Santa Rosa.

“California has the largest number of farmer veterans in the country, with over 1,000,” said Michael O'Gorman, executive director of Farmer Veteran Coalition, which supports military veterans with the resources they need to launch successful farm businesses. “Pastured poultry operations are a growing and profitable sector of California agriculture, and FVC is excited to partner with the University of California to provide trainings on this burgeoning field!”

A four-day workshop covering several aspects of pasture-poultry production will be held Dec. 4-7, 2017, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at UC Davis.

“In addition to the more traditional topics such as flock husbandry, biosecurity, food safety, nutrition or equipment needed, we will discuss records management, marketing options and using mobile apps to capture better data,” said Maurice Pitesky, UC Cooperative Extension poultry specialist in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, who is organizing the workshops.

The poultry workshops will take a participatory learning approach, rotating between presentations, scenario discussions, Q & A sessions and hands-on demonstrations.

During the demonstrations, beginning farmers will have a chance to perform health and welfare assessments of laying hens, on-site Salmonella enteritidis testing, egg candling and safe handling.

Speakers and facilitators will be experts from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, the National Center for Appropriate Technology, California Department of Food and Agriculture and UC Cooperative Extension.

Each day will include 90 minutes of networking opportunities with other beginning farmers. The registration fee is $80 and includes lunch. To register, visit http://ucanr.edu/newpoultryfarmer.

Beginning farmers will gain insightful information on successfully raising poultry flocks on pasture, as well as practical expertise, connections with other farmers and professionals in the field, and better awareness and knowledge of resources and opportunities available.

One-day workshops are being planned for Jan. 17, 2018, in San Diego, May 16 in Santa Rosa and Aug. 8 in Davis. More information will be available at http://ucanr.edu/newpoultryfarmer.

To better communicate with backyard poultry enthusiasts and to protect flocks from disease outbreaks, people who raise backyard poultry are encouraged to participate in a voluntary survey for the UCCE California Poultry Census at http://ucanr.edu/sites/poultry/California_Poultry_Census. If there is an outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, for example, UCCE will notify participants by email and warn them to keep their birds indoors.

For tips on raising healthy chickens in your backyard, attend the Backyard Poultry Workshop in Oakland on Saturday, March 12. Poultry experts will share valuable information for experienced poultry owners and for those just getting started.

The workshop is sponsored by the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Cooperative Extension in Alameda County and the California Poultry Federation.

The workshop will be held 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 12, at the Trans Pacific Center at 1000 Broadway in Oakland. The building is on the corner of Broadway and 11th Street, near the 12th Street BART Station.

Registration is $20 and includes lunch. To register, call or email Monica Della Maggiore at (209) 576-6355 or monica@cpif.org.

Based in Modesto, the California Poultry Federation represents the state's diverse poultry industry and is the official state agency for the National Poultry Improvement Plan.

Most risk of poultry contamination can be avoided by thorough hand-washing, never rinsing the raw chicken and using a calibrated thermometer to verify the cooked chicken's temperature.

While most consumers are very aware of food safety issues, including salmonella, and the risk of foodborne illness, many do not follow recommended food safety practices in preparing their own meals at home, according to new research from UC Davis.

The study, which examined preparation of raw poultry, found that the most common risks stemmed from cross contamination and insufficient cooking.

“The most surprising aspect of these findings to me was the prevalence of undercooking,” said Christine Bruhn, director of the Center for Consumer research at UC Davis, who authored the study. “We are now in summer, the peak season for foodborne illness, and these results come at a time when more consumers can benefit from being aware of better food safety practices. Even tips usually considered basic, like washing hands with soap and water before and after handling raw poultry, and never rinsing raw poultry in the sink, still need to be emphasized for a safer experience,” added Bruhn, a specialist in UC Cooperative Extension who studies consumer attitudes and behaviors toward food safety.

Most risks can be avoided by practicing thorough hand-washing, never rinsing raw chicken in the sink and using calibrated thermometers to determine that chicken is fully cooked. Researchers say these results will help narrow areas of focus and define important messages for food safety educators and advocates in their mission to promote safe food preparation.

The study analyzed video footage taken of 120 participants preparing a self-selected chicken dish and salad in their home kitchens. The participants were experienced in chicken preparation, with 85 percent serving chicken dishes in their home weekly, and 84 percent reporting being knowledgeable about food safety; 48 percent indicated they had received formal food safety training.

Cross contamination was of specific concern to researchers:

Most participants, 65 percent, did not wash their hands before starting meal preparation and 38 percent did not wash their hands after touching raw chicken.

Only 10 percent of participants washed their hands for the recommended duration of 20 seconds and about one-third of the washing occasions used water only, without soap.

Nearly 50 percent of participants were observed washing their chicken in the sink prior to preparation, a practice that is not recommended as it leads to spreading bacteria over multiple surfaces in the kitchen. See the U.S. Department of Agriculture website: http://1.usa.gov/1licv0U.

Insufficient cooking was also observed:

Researchers observed that cooking thermometers were not widely used, with only 48 percent of participants owning one, and 69 percent of those reporting that they seldom use it to check if chicken is completely cooked. Most participants determined “fully cooked” based on appearance, an unreliable method according to the USDA. No participants reported calibrating their thermometers to ensure accuracy.

Based on the study's findings, a coalition of agriculture and food safety partners, including the California Department of Food and Agriculture, UC Davis, the California Poultry Federation, the Oregon Department of Agriculture, the Washington State Department of Agriculture, the Northwest Chicken Council, Partnership for Food Safety Education, and Foster Farms, are launching an educational campaign to increase consumer knowledge about safe food preparation practices in the home. The study was funded by contributions from Foster Farms.

“We all have an important role in ensuring food safety and preventing foodborne illness,” said Shelley Feist, executive director of the nonprofit Partnership for Food Safety Education. “Dr. Bruhn's research shows that some home food safety practices need to be reinforced with consumers. Proper hand-washing and the consistent use of thermometers are basic preventive actions that need to be part of all home food handling and preparation.”

California agriculture officials and representatives have been vocal in recent weeks about salmonella control at the ranch level.

“The California poultry industry has made great strides in reducing salmonella on raw chicken,” said Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “However, even at this lower level, consumers still need to practice safe handling and cooking of raw poultry.” \

Ross recently recorded a public service announcement calling for more attention to safe handling and cooking for raw poultry and meats.

“The poultry industry takes its responsibility to produce a safe product very seriously, as evidenced by current food safety programs that are drastically reducing the incidence of salmonella,” said Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation. “At the same time, the research indicates that the consumer recognizes they also have a role in ensuring safety. This research provides a great opportunity to educate consumers with the most helpful information and tools to minimize risk and gives us a clear picture of what behaviors to focus on.”

The study's complete findings will be published in the September/October issue of Food Protection Trends. Consumers can find free downloadable information on home food safety at http://www.fightbac.org.

On October 7, 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a Public Health Alert that linked Foster Farms chicken produced in three California facilities to illnesses caused by salmonella. Since then, according to the CDC website, Costco's El Camino Real store in South San Francisco has recalled over 23,000 units of rotisserie chicken products, and 25 ill individuals have been identified after eating products purchased at the Costco location. In California alone, 252 have reported illnesses linked to salmonella.

According to a study conducted by Chantal Toledo and Sofia Berto Villas-Boas in an ARE Update published by UC Davis' Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, consumers tend to respond to food scares and government warnings. This is consistent with a Sacramento Bee report announcing a 25 percent decrease in the sale of Foster Farms chicken. The study also suggests that, in the case of an outbreak, consumers don't always switch to alternative brands. The 2010 egg recall resulted in an overall drop in egg sales because consumers did not switch to alternative egg brands. Although it is too early to determine a change in overall chicken sales, Julia Thomas at the Sacramento Natural Foods Coop has reported a 10 percent increase in chicken sales since the salmonella outbreak. According to Thomas, foodborne disease outbreaks are good for the organic food movement.

The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine is planning a series of experiments to better understand Salmonella Heidelberg, the strain of salmonella found in Foster Farms Chicken, which has been a problem for the poultry industry in California and has been associated with human outbreaks since last year. Using molecular techniques, the experiments will study gene expression and determine a better characterization of the strains involved in the outbreak.

The School of Veterinary Medicine is also collaborating with the Animal Science Department at UC Davis and UC Cooperative Extension to leverage DNA sequencing in order to better understand the virulence of Salmonella Heidelberg and it's potential to cause disease under processing conditions.

Concerned about your own chickens? "The CAHFS Lab System routinely provides diagnostic support for commercial, small flock and backyard poultry producers in California," says Richard Breitmeyer, director of the the California Animal Health and Food Safety (CAHFS) Lab System at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, "including testing for salmonella." More information can be found on their website.